Wideband circuits and methods

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention include circuits and methods with wide bandwidths. In one embodiment, parasitic capacitances of the output of a first stage and the input of a second stage are included in a network. The output of the first stage is coupled to the input of the network, and the input of the second stage is coupled to an intermediate node of the network. In one embodiment, the parasitic capacitance of the second stage is the largest capacitance in the network.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to wideband circuits, and in particular, to wideband circuits that may be used between circuit stages.

Electronic circuits are typically built in stages. For example, an analog circuit may include one or more amplifiers connected in series, wherein each amplifier constitutes a stage of the circuit with a particular amplification strength (i.e., gain). Other stages may include filters, mixers, analog-to-digital converters (“ADC”), digital-to-analog converters (“DAC”), a variety of different amplifiers such as power amplifiers or low noise amplifiers, or other circuit stages. Digital circuits may also be connected in stages as is well known by those skilled in the art.

FIG. 1A illustrates one problem associates with circuit stages. A first circuit stage 101 receives an input signal “In” and provides an output signal to the input of a second circuit stage 102, which in turn generates an output signal “Out.” In many stages, the output of the stage includes some kind of output impedance for translating currents at the output into voltages. The output impedance in this example is represented by a resistor (“RL”) 103 connected between the output and a power supply Vdd. The output node of any circuit stage will have a corresponding parasitic output capacitance. Parasitic output capacitance may be due to a variety of well-known factors such as the capacitance introduced by conductive traces (i.e., routing capacitance), the gate-to-drain capacitance or drain-to-substrate capacitance of MOS transistors, or the capacitance of contacts between a conductive trace and a resistor terminal to name just a few. All the parasitic capacitances of the output node of stage 101 are represented by capacitor C_(p1). Similarly, the input nodes of circuit stages will also have associated parasitic capacitances stemming from, for example, the gate capacitance of MOS transistors and a variety of other well-known sources. All the parasitic capacitances of the input node of stage 102 are represented by capacitor C_(p2).

FIG. 1B shows an equivalent circuit of FIG. 1A and the corresponding frequency response. One problem associated with parasitic capacitance is that it can effectively narrow the bandwidth of signal frequencies that can be coupled between stages of an electronic circuit. For example, signals at the output of stage 101 will see a low pass filter caused by the parallel combination of the output impedance and the parasitic capacitances. In FIG. 1B, the combined parasitic capacitances are represented by C_(T). The plot in FIG. 1B shows the bandwidth of the circuit where the value of C_(T) and R_(L) are as follows: C_(T)=600fF R_(L)=50Ω The output signal of stage 101 will be attenuated by 3 dB at the following frequency: f _(3db)=½πR(C _(p1) +C _(p2)). For comparison with plots below, FIG. 1B shows the 1 dB frequency rather than the 3 dB frequency. However, in this example the 1 dB frequency is about one-half of the 3 dB frequency. Therefore, to increasing the bandwidth of the circuit, either the resistance or capacitance must be reduced. Since resistance is typically used to set the gain of the previous stage, it is generally desirable to reduce the parasitic capacitance. However, in any given process technology or application, there are practical limits to how far parasitic capacitances can be reduced. Thus, it is generally desirable to reduce the “effects” of parasitic capacitance on the signals that are being processed by each stage of the circuit.

FIG. 1C is a prior art interstage circuit 100C. In this circuit, a first stage includes transistor (M1) 101 having a gate coupled to receive an input signal and a drain having a parasitic capacitance C_(pM1). The output node of transistor 101 has a further parasitic capacitance C_(pR) from the parasitic capacitance due to routing. Since the capacitances are in parallel, these parasitic capacitances will add and can be represented by a single capacitor as shown. Similarly, a second stage includes transistor (M2) 102 having a gate coupled to receive the output signal of the previous stage. The input to the second stage has a parasitic capacitance of C_(pM2). A passive network 104 is provided between the output of transistor 101 and the input of transistor 102. In this circuit, the input of the passive network is coupled to the drain output of transistor 101 and the output of the passive network 104 is coupled to the gate of transistor 102. Network 104 includes an inductor (L2) 105, input capacitances C_(pM1) and C_(pR), output capacitance C_(pM2), and resistor 103. Network 104 is a third-order filter between the output of the first stage and the input of the second stage. In this circuit, parasitic capacitances are absorbed into network 104 and the overall bandwidth of the system may be increased. In such a case, the output of the network includes the load for setting the gain of the previous stage. However, the bandwidth is typically limited by the parasitic capacitance at the input of the second stage (here, the gate capacitance of M2). Thus, for a given gain requirement, the bandwidth will typically be constrained by the capacitive loading at the output of the filter caused by the parasitic input capacitance of M2.

FIG. 1D illustrates a similar approach using a higher order network. Network 120 is a 5th-order filter having an input connected to the output of the first stage (i.e., the drain of M1) and an output connected to the input of the second stage (i.e., the gate of M2). Network 120 includes inductors (L2) 121 and (L3) 123, input capacitances C_(pM1), and C_(pR), intermediate capacitance (C_(f1)) 122, output capacitance C_(pM2), and resistor 103. As before, the resistor at the network output may be used to set the load impedance (i.e., gain), and the parasitic capacitances are absorbed into the input and output of network 120. Thus, the bandwidth of the system is increased.

While the prior art circuits in FIGS. 1C and 1D are useful in increasing the bandwidth, such circuits are still limited by the size of the parasitic capacitances. For example, the input of a stage implemented using MOS devices will typically have a large parasitic gate capacitance. In many applications it may be desirable to optimize the gain and bandwidth of the circuit. Accordingly, for a given gain requirement, smaller parasitic capacitance values would be required. Similarly, it is often desirable to increase the size of the M2 device so that the subsequent stage can deliver more current, for example. Thus, it is generally desirable to maximize the parasitic capacitance that can be tolerated at the input of the second stage while maintaining maximum bandwidth and gain. Thus, there is a need for improved wideband circuits and methods.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention include circuits and methods that reduce the deleterious effects of capacitance on bandwidth and gain. In one embodiment the present invention includes a circuit comprising a first stage having an output terminal, the output terminal having a corresponding first parasitic capacitance, a second stage having an input terminal, the input terminal having a corresponding second parasitic capacitance, and a passive network having an input terminal coupled to the output terminal of the first stage and an intermediate node coupled to the input terminal of the second stage, wherein the first parasitic capacitance is included as the input capacitance of the passive network, and the second parasitic capacitance is included as the capacitance of the intermediate node of the passive network, and wherein the second parasitic capacitance is the largest capacitance in the passive network.

In one embodiment, the passive network is a fourth order or greater network.

In one embodiment, the second parasitic capacitance corresponds to at least the gate of a MOS transistor.

In one embodiment, the passive network includes a first inductor coupled between the output of the first stage and the intermediate node and a second inductor coupled between the intermediate node and a first terminal of a resistor.

In one embodiment, the passive network further comprises a capacitor coupled between the first terminal of the resistor and a reference voltage.

In one embodiment, the passive network includes a first two-port network coupled between the first stage and second stage, and a second single-port network including a resistor coupled to the intermediate node.

In one embodiment, the passive network has a frequency response at the intermediate node having less than three decibels (3 dB) of ripple from a first low frequency to the corner frequency of the passive network.

In one embodiment, the first low frequency is less than three (3) gigahertz and the corner frequency is at least ten (10) gigahertz.

In one embodiment, the first stage is a low noise amplifier or a mixer.

In another embodiment, the present invention includes a circuit comprising a first stage having an output terminal, the output terminal having a corresponding first parasitic capacitance, a second stage having an input terminal, the input terminal having a corresponding second parasitic capacitance, and one or more first inductors coupled in series between the first stage output terminal and a first intermediate node, and one or more second inductors coupled in series between the first intermediate node and a first terminal of a load resistor, wherein second stage input terminal and corresponding second parasitic capacitance is coupled to the first intermediate node.

In one embodiment, the one or more first inductors are two or more inductors coupled between the first stage output terminal and the first intermediate node, and wherein a capacitor is coupled between one or more second intermediate nodes of the two or more inductors.

In one embodiment, the present invention further comprises one or more capacitors, wherein the one or more first inductors, the one or more second inductors, and the one or more capacitors are configured as a fourth order or greater ladder network.

In one embodiment, the second parasitic capacitance is the largest capacitance coupled to the first or second inductors.

In one embodiment, the second stage has a second input terminal having a corresponding third parasitic capacitance, and wherein the second input terminal of the second stage and corresponding third parasitic capacitance is coupled to a second intermediate node.

In another embodiment, the present invention includes a method comprising generating a first signal in a first stage at an output terminal, the output terminal having a corresponding first parasitic capacitance, coupling the first signal to a second stage having an input terminal, the input terminal having a corresponding second parasitic capacitance, and processing the first signal in a network having an input terminal coupled to the output terminal of the first stage and an intermediate node coupled to the input terminal of the second stage, wherein the first parasitic capacitance is included as the input capacitance of the network, and the second parasitic capacitance is included as the capacitance of the intermediate node of the network and wherein the second parasitic capacitance is the largest capacitance in the network. In one embodiment, the network is a fourth order or greater network. In one embodiment, the first stage is a low noise amplifier or mixer. In one embodiment, the network comprises one or more first inductors, at least one capacitor, one or more second inductors, and a resistor, and wherein the one or more first inductors, the one or more second inductors, the at least one capacitor, the resistor, and the first and second parasitic capacitances are configured as a fourth order or greater ladder network having the resistor coupled to a last node of the network. In one embodiment, the inductance of the first and second inductors, the capacitance of the at least one capacitor, and the capacitance of the first and second capacitances provide a frequency response at the intermediate node that is substantially flat up to the corner frequency of the network.

The following detailed description and accompanying drawings provide a better understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates multiple circuit stages.

FIG. 1B illustrates the bandwidth limitation caused by parasitic capacitance in circuit stages.

FIG. 1C shows a prior art 3^(rd) order network having a network input connected to the output of the first stage and a network output connected to the input of the second stage.

FIG. 1D shows a prior art 5^(th) order network having a network input connected to the output of the first stage and a network output connected to the input of the second stage.

FIG. 2A illustrates a wideband circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2B illustrates a wideband circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of a wideband circuit used to couple a signal between the source of a transistor and the gate of another transistor.

FIG. 4A is an example of a wideband circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4B is an equivalent circuit of the wideband circuit in FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4C shows the frequency response at the output node of the network in FIG. 4B for specific component values.

FIG. 4D shows the frequency response at an intermediate node of the network in FIG. 4B for specific component values.

FIG. 4E shows the frequency response at the intermediate node of the network in FIG. 4B for specific component values.

FIG. 4F shows the frequency response at the output node of the network in FIG. 4B for specific component values.

FIG. 5 is an example of a wideband circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an example of a wideband circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example of a wireless system including a wideband circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an example of a low noise amplifier including a wideband circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an example of a mixer including a wideband circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows the frequency response for the wideband circuit of FIG. 4E.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Described herein are circuits and methods for use in wideband circuits. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous examples and specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be evident to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may include other equivalent embodiments or basic modifications of the examples shown below. For example, while the embodiments and examples below are presented using NMOS transistors, other transistors suitable for high frequencies may be used. Thus, the invention, as defined by the claims, may include some or all of the features in these examples alone or in combination with other features described below along with equivalents.

FIG. 2A illustrates a wideband circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention. Wideband circuit 200A includes a first stage 201, a second stage 202, and a network 210A. Stage 201 receives an input signal “In” and generates an output signal at an output terminal. Network 210A includes an input terminal 213, a first network portion 211, a second network portion 212, a last node 214, and a resistor 203. The output terminal of stage 201 is coupled to the input terminal 213 of network 210A. Resistor 203 is coupled to the last node 214 of network 210A, and may set the gain of stage 201. In the example shown in FIG. 2A, the first network portion 211 is a single-ended two-port network, which means that the first network portion has one input terminal and one output terminal. The second network portion 212 is a single-port network including resistor 203, which means that the second network portion has one input terminal that provides impedance loading, but has no output terminal. While the present example illustrates one embodiment of the invention in terms of a single-ended circuit, differential circuits could also be used as illustrated below. The first and second network portions 211 and 212 are coupled together at intermediate node 215. An intermediate node is a circuit node that is separated from the input node by at least one component and separated from the last node by at least one component. Stage 202 includes an input terminal that is coupled to an intermediate node 215 of network 210A.

The output terminal of stage 201 has a corresponding first parasitic capacitance. Similarly, input terminal of stage 202 has a corresponding second parasitic capacitance. The first parasitic capacitance may be included as the input capacitance of the network, and the second parasitic capacitance may be included as the capacitance of the intermediate node of the network. As described in more detail below, for a given parasitic capacitance at the input terminal of the second stage and a particular resistance value for resistor 203, the intermediate node may provide a wider bandwidth than the bandwidth available at the last node of network 210A. The response of network 210A can be tailored to provide a frequency response at the intermediate node that is substantially flat up to the corner frequency of the network. Various implementations and embodiments of the present invention may include different corner frequencies and different amounts of ripple. In one embodiment, the network may be set to have a frequency response at the intermediate node having less than three decibels (3 dB) of ripple from a first low frequency (e.g., 0 Hz) to the corner frequency of the network. In another embodiment, the coner frequency may be defmed as the frequency at which the output is attenuated by one decibel (1 dB), and the ripple may be about 1 dB or less. For example, in a wireless application the first low frequency may be less than three (3) gigahertz and the 1 dB corner frequency may be at least ten (10) gigahertz.

FIG. 2B illustrates a wideband circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention. Wideband circuit 200B includes a first stage 201, a second stage 202, and a network 210B. Stage 201 receives an input signal “In” and generates an output signal at an output terminal. Network 210B includes an input terminal 213, a first network portion 211, a second network portion 212, a third network portion 217, a last node 214, and a resistor 203. The output terminal of stage 201 is coupled to the input terminal 213 of network 210B. Resistor 203 is coupled to the last node 214 of network 210B, and may set the gain of stage 201. In the example shown in FIG. 2B, the first and second network portions 211-212 are single-ended two-port networks. The third network portion 217 is a single-port network including resistor 203. The first and second network portions 211 and 212 are coupled together at intermediate node 215, and the second and third network portions 212 and 217 are coupled together at intermediate node 216. Stage 202 includes an input terminal that is coupled to both intermediate nodes 215 and 216 of network 210B through an adding circuit 220. Thus, the signals at the intermediate nodes may be added together and provided to stage 202. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may combine different signals from different portions of network 210B to achieve a desired bandwidth and passband response.

In one embodiment, networks 210A and 210B are ladder networks. A ladder network is a network with an input node and a series of components coupled together at one or more nodes, and each node further has a component coupled to a reference voltage such as ground. An example ladder network is a series of inductors coupled together between an input node and a last node, with the nodes between the inductors being intermediate nodes of the network. All of the nodes in the ladder may have a capacitance to ground, for example.

The ladder network may further have a resistor coupled between the last node and a reference voltage.

FIG. 3 is an example of a wideband circuit used to couple a signal between the drain of a transistor and the gate of another transistor. Wideband circuit 300 illustrates how the output parasitic capacitance and input parasitic capacitance may be included in the network to enhance bandwidth. In this example, the first stage includes a MOS transistor (M1) 301, which provides an output signal on a drain terminal. The second stage is also a MOS transistor (M2) 302, which receives a signal that has been processed by network 310. In this example, network 310 is a passive network having an input terminal coupled to the drain of transistor 301 and an intermediate node 315 coupled to the gate of transistor 302. While this example illustrates the input of the second stage being a gate terminal, other second stage input configurations may be used. The drain terminal of transistor 301 will have a corresponding parasitic capacitance C_(p1). Similarly, the gate terminal of transistor 302 will have a corresponding parasitic capacitance C_(p2). A passive circuit 313 may be included between the drain terminal and intermediate node 315. A variety of passive circuits may be used based on design criteria. The combined network 310 is preferably a fourth order or greater network (i.e., 4^(th) order, 5^(th) order, etc . . . ). The order of the network is determined from the number of energy storage elements in the network (e.g., inductors and capacitances) including the parasitic capacitances. The parasitic drain capacitance is incorporated as the input capacitance of passive circuit 313, and the parasitic gate capacitance is incorporated as the capacitance of the intermediate node 315. The intermediate node is also coupled to the input of a second network portion 312, which may also be a passive network. Network portion 312 includes a resistor 303 connected at a last node in the network. Resistor 303 may set the gain of the M1 stage, for example. Network 310 may be designed and customized for maximum bandwidth at intermediate node 315 for given values of resistance, parasitic drain capacitance, and parasitic gate capacitance. As illustrated in more detail below, for a given parasitic gate capacitance and resistor value, the circuit bandwidth at the gate of M2 may be greater than the bandwidth available if the gate of M2 were connected to resistor 303 at the last node in network 310. Therefore, larger second stage input devices may be used, for example.

FIG. 4A is an example of a wideband circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the first stage includes a MOS transistor (M1) 401 having a corresponding parasitic capacitance (C_(p1)) 450. Similarly, the second stage includes a MOS transistor (M2) 402 having a corresponding parasitic capacitance (C_(p2)) 452. The parasitic capacitances are included as part of a network comprising capacitance (C_(p1)) 450, inductor (L1) 451, capacitance (C_(p2)) 452, inductor (L2) 453, capacitance (C_(f1)) 454, and resistor (R) 455. Inductor 451 is coupled between the drain of M1 and intermediate node 415, which is coupled to the gate of M2. Inductor 453 is coupled between intermediate node 415 and the last node of the network, which is a first terminal of resistor 455. The second terminal of resistor 455 may be coupled to a reference voltage such as Vdd, for example. Capacitance 454 is also coupled between the last node and a reference voltage (e.g., ground). Capacitance 454 may be a parasitic capacitance or a capacitor component, for example. The parasitic capacitances and passive components in circuit 400A make up a 5^(th) order ladder network. FIGS. 4B-F illustrate how an intermediate node in such a circuit may be used to obtain broader bandwidth for a system.

FIG. 4B is an equivalent circuit of the wideband circuit in FIG. 4A. For purposes of understanding the improvements of the present invention, specific example values for the components are provided in the following Table 1: TABLE 1 C_(p1) 530 fF L1 1.27 nH C_(p2) 634 fF L2 1.15 nH C_(f1) 340 fF R 50 Ω The values for the above filter are based on a 5^(th) order Chebyshev filter for the network with one decibel (1 dB) of ripple in the passband. FIG. 4C illustrates the frequency response of the circuit in FIG. 4B at the last node in the circuit (i.e., Node C). In this example, the frequency response is a transimpedance because the input of the network is a current and the output is a voltage. As shown in FIG. 4C, the circuit has a bandwidth of about 10 GHz. However, the circuit will only achieve this bandwidth if the capacitance at the last node is at 340 femtofarads. For practical applications, it may not be possible or desirable to have such low capacitance at the gate of the next stage. It has been noted that the capacitance at the intermediate node is almost double the capacitance at the last node. FIG. 4D shows the frequency response at the intermediate node of the network in FIG. 4B. From FIG. 4D it can be seen that there is peaking in the response at the intermediate node near the cutoff frequency. However, by tailoring the component values, the frequency response at the intermediate node may be flattened so that a wide bandwidth is achieved together with a higher capacitance tolerance.

FIG. 4E shows the frequency response at the intermediate node of the network in FIG. 4B after the component values have been adjusted for a flat bandwidth. The component values for the circuit in FIG. 4B that result in the frequency response in FIG. 4E are shown in Table 2: TABLE 2 C_(p1) 570 fF L1 1.41 nH C_(p2) 600 fF L2 1.11 nH C_(f1) 332 fF R 50 Ω

This example illustrates that a wide bandwidth may be achieved at the same gain level (i.e., the same value of resistor R) but with a substantial increase in tolerance for the capacitance of the second stage. It should also be noted that the tolerance on the input capacitance has increased. To illustrate this improvement further, it is useful to compare prior art techniques to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated by this example. According to prior techniques, the input of the second stage was connected to the last node in the network, which was considered the output in the prior art. If a second stage has a fixed parasitic capacitance of 600 fF, and if the gate input of the second stage is connected to the last node of a 5^(th) order Chebyshev filter network, then the other component values are as shown in Table 3. TABLE 3 C_(p1) 935 fF L1 2.23 nH C_(f1) 1120 fF L2 2.03 nH C_(p2) 600 fF R 50 Ω Note that in the prior art, the input to the second stage was not coupled to an intermediate node, but rather, to the last node of the network. Thus, in Table 3 the parasitic capacitance of the second stage C_(p2) changes position with capacitor C_(f1). The bandwidth of the circuit for Table 3 is shown in FIG. 4F. Comparing component values in Tables 2 and 3 and the frequency responses shown in FIG. 4E and 4F it is clear that for a given second stage capacitance, the bandwidth of the circuit will be substantially less if the second stage is connected to the last node in the network. However, more capacitance can be tolerated if the second stage is coupled to an intermediate node. In particular, for an input capacitance of 600 fF, the bandwidth of the circuit in FIG. 4E is 10 GHz, but the bandwidth of the circuit in FIG. 4F is only about 5.5 GHz.

The above example also illustrates another embodiment of the invention where the parasitic capacitance of the second stage (e.g., C_(p2)) is the largest capacitance in the network. In this case, the other component values can be optimized for maximum frequency response between the input of the network and the intermediate node. In the example above, the network was initially configured as a 5^(th) order Chebyshev filter. The filter components were selected based on a gain, bandwidth, and parasitic capacitance constraints. The component values may then be modified so that the frequency response at the desired intermediate node is “flattened” to provide a substantially flat passband up to the corner frequency of the network. The corner frequency is typically the frequency above which the frequency response (e.g., the transimpedance) of the network is below some desired level (e.g., 1 dB or 3 dB). The passband of the circuit is the range of frequencies where the signal passes substantially unattenuated (e.g., less than 3 dB attenuation). Different applications may have different requirements for ripple in the passband. In one application, the network may be set to have a frequency response at the intermediate node having less than three decibels (3 dB) of ripple from a first low frequency (e.g., 0 Hz) to the corner frequency of the network. In some embodiments, the components in the filter may be selected to achieve even less ripple, such as about 1.5 dB or 1 dB of ripple. In a wireless application, the components may be tailored to be substantially flat from a low frequency of less than three (3) gigahertz and a corner frequency as high as ten (10) gigahertz. While the above component values were obtained from a Chebyshev filter, it is to be understood that other filters, such as Butterworth or Bessel filters for example, could be used to obtain the initial values for the components.

FIG. 5 is an example of a wideband circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention. Circuit 500 is an example of a 7^(th) order ladder network. Circuit 500 includes a first stage comprising an output transistor 501, passive network, and a second stage comprising an input transistor 502. The passive network includes a parasitic capacitance of the first stage C_(p1), inductor 550, capacitor 551, inductor 552, the parasitic capacitance C_(p2) of the second stage transistor 502, inductor 553, capacitor 554, and a resistor 555 coupled to the last node in the network. The parasitic capacitance of the drain of transistor 501 is included as the input capacitance of the passive network together with other possible parasitic capacitances corresponding to the first stage output node such as routing capacitance, for example. Inductors 550 and 551 are coupled in series between the first stage output terminal and the intermediate node coupled to the gate of transistor 502. Inductor 553 is coupled between the intermediate node and a first terminal of load resistor 555. Higher order networks may include additional inductors between the input node and output node of the network. The node between inductors 550 and 552 is also an intermediate node in the circuit. However, the intermediate node between inductors 550 and 552 is coupled to one terminal of capacitor 551. The other terminal of capacitor 551 is coupled to ground. Similarly, the last node between inductor 553 and resistor 555 is coupled to one terminal of capacitor 554, and the other terminal of capacitor 554 is coupled to ground. The intermediate node between inductors 552 and 553 is coupled to the gate of transistor 502. Therefore, the parasitic capacitance from the gate is included as the capacitance of the intermediate node of the network. As mentioned above, techniques for obtaining component values may include initially treating the network as a filter, such as a Chebyshev. Component values for a given bandwidth at the last node may be obtained. Then, the response at the gate of transistor 502 may then be flattened by modifying the component values using numerical methods. For a given value of resistance and parasitic capacitance at the gate of transistor 502, the frequency response at the intermediate node may be very large when the parasitic capacitance from the gate of transistor 502 is the largest capacitance in the network.

FIG. 6 is an example of a wideband circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention. Circuit 600 is an example of a 7^(th) order ladder network that is substantially the same as in FIG. 5. However, the second stage in this circuit includes two input transistors 602 and 603. As in FIG. 5, transistor 603 has a gate coupled to the intermediate node between inductor (L2) 652 and inductor (L3) 653, and the parasitic capacitance from the gate of transistor 603 is included as the capacitance of the intermediate node between L2 and L3. Additionally, transistor 602 has a gate coupled to the intermediate node between inductor (L1) 650 and inductor (L2) 652, and the parasitic capacitance from the gate of transistor 602 is included as the capacitance of the intermediate node between L1 and L2. The voltages at the intermediate nodes will be translated into currents at the drains of transistors 602 and 603. These currents may be added using the network comprising inductor 667, inductor 668, and resistor 669, for example. It is to be understood that this example is only one technique for adding signals from multiple intermediate nodes. Other techniques may be used for adding the currents. The frequency responses at the intermediate nodes may be tailored to obtain substantially flat wide bandwidth. In this example, an attenuated signal frequency at one intermediate node may be summed with an amplified signal frequency at the other intermediate node to cancel out the attenuation and extend the bandwidth. For example, one intermediate node may include peaking near the coner frequency to extend the bandwidth, and the other intermediate node may be rolling off at such frequency. However, when the signals are added together, the peaking may be cancelled to achieve substantially flat bandwidth across the frequency range of interest.

FIG. 7 is an example of a wireless system including a wideband circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an example of a direct conversion architecture that may use embodiments of the present invention. Wireless system 700 includes antenna 710 coupled through a switch 701 to both a reception channel and a transmission channel. The reception channel includes a low noise amplifier 711 (“LNA”), mixer 712, frequency synthesizer 730, filter 714, automatic gain control 715 (“AGC”) and analog-to-digital converter 716 (“A/D”). LNA 711 is used for amplifying high frequency signals from antenna 710 and must have sufficient bandwidth, gain and noise performance to meet system requirements. In one embodiment, the present invention includes an LNA stage coupled to a mixer stage using wideband circuit techniques described above. Mixer 712 also receives a local oscillator signal (“LO”) from frequency synthesizer 730 at the carrier frequency and demodulates the RF input signal from the LNA 711. The reception channel may include two mixers and parallel paths thereafter for both in-phase and quadrature paths (only one path is shown). In a direct conversion system, the input signal is demodulated down to baseband, and no intermediate frequencies are used. It is to be understood that embodiments of the present invention may be used in either a direct conversion system or a system using intermediate frequencies. Filter 714 is used to extract the signal of interest from the demodulated signal, and AGC 715 provides appropriate gain so that the input to A/D 716 is as close as possible to the A/D's full range. The output of the reception channel is coupled to baseband processor 720 over N-bit digital signal lines, for example, for decoding and further processing.

During transmission, baseband processor 720 encodes a voice or data signal. The encoded signal is received by digital-to-analog converter 721 (“D/A”) as an N-bit digital signal, for example, and is converted into an analog signal. The output of D/A 721 is passed through filter 722 and mixer 723. Mixer 723 receives a local oscillator signal (“LO”) from frequency synthesizer 730 at the carrier frequency, and the input to the mixer is modulated by LO to produce a modulated output signal. The system may include two transmission paths for both in-phase and quadrature signals (not shown) that are added together prior to amplification. The modulated mixer output signal is received by power amplifier 725, which amplifies the power in the signal to drive antenna 710. In another embodiment, the present invention includes a mixer stage coupled to an amplifier stage using wideband circuit techniques described above.

FIG. 8 is an example of a low noise amplifier including a wideband circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention. A low noise amplifier (“LNA”) 801 generates an output signal at an output terminal. The output terminal has a corresponding parasitic capacitance (C_(p1)) 802. The signal from the LNA is processed in a network having an input terminal coupled to the output terminal of the LNA. The network in this example includes parasitic capacitance 802, inductor (L1) 803, inductor (L2) 805, capacitance (C_(f1)) 806, resistor (R) 807, and a parasitic capacitance (C_(p2)) 804 corresponding to the input of one or more mixer circuits. The parasitic capacitances may include drain capacitance, gate capacitance, or routing capacitances, for example. In the network in circuit 800, capacitance 806 is purely parasitic, which may be caused by routing capacitance between inductor 805 and resistor 807. The input to the mixer stage is couple to an intermediate node of the network rather than to the last node of the network at resistor 807. The network therefore processes the signal at the output of the LNA, and the processed signal is received by the mixer from an intermediate node. The intermediate node may have a wide bandwidth where the parasitic capacitance of the mixer input is the largest capacitance in the network. Table 4 shows example values for components that may be used. TABLE 4 C_(p1) 75 fF L1 2.5 nH C_(p2) 190 fF L2 3.8 nH C_(f1) 27 fF R 70 Ω

FIG. 9 is an example of a mixer including a wideband circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention. Mixer 900 includes cross-coupled stages comprising transistors 901-902 and 904-905. Each mixer stage includes a mixer input circuit 903 and 906. Mixer 900 receives a differential input signal (in2+, in2−), which is modulated by a local oscillator signal (in1+, in1−). Each stage generates differential currents that may be added together by coupling the outputs to common loads. Here, the common load is provided by two wideband networks of the type described above. The outputs of transistors 901 and 904 are coupled to a first network comprising parasitic capacitance (C_(p1)) 910, inductor (L1) 911, inductor (L2) 913, capacitance (C_(f1)) 914, resistor (R) 915, and a parasitic capacitance (C_(p2)) 912 corresponding to one input of a differential amplifier stage. Similarly, the outputs of transistors 902 and 905 are coupled to a second network comprising parasitic capacitance (C_(p3)) 920, inductor (L3) 921, inductor (L4) 923, capacitance (C_(f2)) 924, resistor (R) 925, and a parasitic capacitance (C_(p4)) 922 corresponding to a second input of a differential amplifier stage. Parasitic capacitances 910 and 920 may result from the combined drain capacitances of the mixer outputs and routing capacitances, for example. From FIG. 9 it can be seen that the wideband networks are symmetric ladder networks. Table 5 illustrates example values for the components of the networks, and further illustrates that wideband performance may be achieved when the parasitic capacitance included at the intermediate nodes of the network are the largest capacitances in the network. TABLE 5 C_(p1), C_(p3) 220 fF L1, L3 3.8 nH C_(p2), C_(p4) 250 fF L2, L4 2.5 nH C_(f1), C_(f2) 20 fF R 100 Ω

FIG. 10 shows the frequency response for the wideband circuit of FIG. 4E. From the diagram in FIG. 10, another advantage of embodiments of the invention is apparent. FIG. 10 shows the frequency response for three different values of resistance. One additional feature of some embodiments of the present invention is process insensitivity. For instance, characteristics of devices will change across manufacturing process runs. Resistors, for example, may vary by as much as 20% across process. FIG. 10 shows the frequency response (i.e., Z(f)=Vout/Iin) for three resistor values of R={40Ω, 50Ω, 60Ω}. The plot shows that from about 3 GHz to 8 GHz, the passband is extremely flat with about 1 dB of ripple for all values of resistance.

The above description illustrates various embodiments of the present invention along with examples of how aspects of the present invention may be implemented. The above examples and embodiments should not be deemed to be the only embodiments, and are presented to illustrate the flexibility and advantages of the present invention as defined by the following claims. In particular, while the embodiments and examples above were presented using NMOS transistors, other transistors such as PMOS or bipolar may also be used. Additionally, embodiments of the present invention may be used in a variety of high frequency applications such as radio frequency applications (RF) or opto-electronic systems. Example applications may include using intermediate networks with low noise amplifiers (LNA), mixer, between internal stages in amplifiers (e.g., power amplifiers), line drivers, or in high speed receivers or transmitters (e.g., fiber optic or wireless). It is also to be understood that the intermediate network may be low pass or band pass. Based on the above disclosure and the following claims, other arrangements, embodiments, implementations and equivalents will be evident to those skilled in the art and may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defmed by the claims. 

1. A circuit comprising: a first stage having an output terminal, the output terminal having a corresponding first parasitic capacitance; a second stage having an input terminal, the input terminal having a corresponding second parasitic capacitance; and a passive network having an input terminal coupled to the output terminal of the first stage and an intermediate node coupled to the input terminal of the second stage, wherein the first parasitic capacitance is included as the input capacitance of the passive network, and the second parasitic capacitance is included as the capacitance of the intermediate node of the passive network, and wherein the second parasitic capacitance is the largest capacitance in the passive network.
 2. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the passive network is a fourth order or greater network.
 3. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the second parasitic capacitance corresponds to at least the gate of a MOS transistor.
 4. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the passive network includes a first inductor coupled between the output of the first stage and the intermediate node and a second inductor coupled between the intermediate node and a first terminal of a resistor.
 5. The circuit of claim 4 wherein the passive network further comprises a capacitor coupled between the first terminal of the resistor and a reference voltage.
 6. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the passive network includes a first two-port network coupled between the first stage and second stage, and a second single-port network including a resistor coupled to the intermediate node.
 7. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the passive network has a frequency response at the intermediate node having less than three decibels (3 dB) of ripple from a first low frequency to the coner frequency of the passive network.
 8. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the first low frequency is less than three (3) gigahertz and the corner frequency is at least ten (10) gigahertz.
 9. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the first stage is a power amplifier, low noise amplifier, or a mixer.
 10. A circuit comprising: a first stage having an output terminal, the output terminal having a corresponding first parasitic capacitance; a second stage having an input terminal, the input terminal having a corresponding second parasitic capacitance; and one or more first inductors coupled in series between the first stage output terminal and a first intermediate node, and one or more second inductors coupled in series between the first intermediate node and a first terminal of a load resistor, wherein second stage input terminal and corresponding second parasitic capacitance is coupled to the first intermediate node.
 11. The circuit of claim 10 wherein the one or more first inductors are two or more inductors coupled between the first stage output terminal and the first intermediate node, and wherein a capacitor is coupled between one or more second intermediate nodes of the two or more inductors.
 12. The circuit of claim 10 further comprising one or more capacitors, wherein the one or more first inductors, the one or more second inductors, and the one or more capacitors are configured as a fourth order or greater ladder network.
 13. The circuit of claim 12 wherein the second parasitic capacitance is the largest capacitance coupled to the first or second inductors.
 14. The circuit of claim 10 wherein the second stage has a second input terminal having a corresponding third parasitic capacitance, and wherein the second input terminal of the second stage and corresponding third parasitic capacitance is coupled to a second intermediate node.
 15. The circuit of claim 10 wherein the first stage is a power amplifier, low noise amplifier, or a mixer.
 16. A method comprising: generating a first signal in a first stage at an output terminal, the output terminal having a corresponding first parasitic capacitance; processing the first signal in a network having an input terminal and an intermediate node, wherein the network input terminal is coupled to the output terminal of the first stage; and coupling the processed first signal to a second stage having an input terminal coupled to the intermediate node, the input terminal having a corresponding second parasitic capacitance, wherein the first parasitic capacitance is included as the input capacitance of the network, and the second parasitic capacitance is included as the capacitance of the intermediate node of the network and wherein the second parasitic capacitance is the largest capacitance in the network.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein the network is a fourth order or greater network.
 18. The method of claim 16 wherein the first stage is a power amplifier, low noise amplifier, or mixer.
 19. The method of claim 16 wherein the network comprises one or more first inductors, at least one capacitor, one or more second inductors, and a resistor, and wherein the one or more first inductors, the one or more second inductors, the at least one capacitor, the resistor, and the first and second parasitic capacitances are configured as a fourth order or greater ladder network having the resistor coupled to a last node of the network.
 20. The method of claim 19 wherein the inductance of the first and second inductors, the capacitance of the at least one capacitor, and the capacitance of the first and second capacitances provide a frequency response at the intermediate node that is substantially flat up to the corner frequency of the network. 